Empowering Your Manager
Every company has an employee who is in a position of power, but not many are aware of the tools and resources that are available to them. This blog post will outline exactly what managers can do to empower their teams and ultimately help themselves lead more productive conversations.
Manager's Corner
When someone asks you if you have time now, what do you say? Need a minute? Sure! What about "let me check my calendar"? Or, maybe "I'm swamped with work at the moment" or "I'll call you later". The protocol for saying no is similar across cultures and industries; all sayings seem to boil down to one message - it's hard for me right now.
But have you ever asked someone if they have time and they say yes?
It's not easy to find time for things that are important, but with a few simple hacks, you can give yourself and others the "yes" answer.
First, make sure there is a reason to see the person. If it can be resolved in less than five minutes (like a quick question), great! Make sure you ask questions that get right to the point and keep them short. This will allow the other person to respond quicker and help free up their time.
Second, keep track of the responses to see if it's getting easier for you to say no. This will help you see if there are ways you can improve. For example, if people ask your opinion on topics that are outside of your expertise, maybe it's time to follow up with them after the meeting to address any concerns they might have.
Finally, leave yourself some margin for the inevitable - no one is perfect and sometimes our "sorry's" or "I'll get back to you" just throw us off until we can take a breath and think about how we respond. That's ok! It's better to say you're busy when you're really busy than not to say it and leave the other person hanging.
Team Empowerment
As a manager, your goal is to give your team members the tools they need to work effectively and efficiently. By empowering your reports, you are giving them the power to do their jobs better and that ultimately creates more time for you, as the manager, to focus on leading rather than doing. The following ideas will help empower your team members so they feel confident running with these responsibilities in their day-to-day roles.
One of the biggest factors that causes even managers to feel overwhelmed is the lack of communication. If you are going to truly empower your team members, you need to build a foundation of trust around topics such as: expectations, feedback, implementation and follow-up.
It's important to create a standard for documentation when it comes to meeting notes. If everyone understands what is expected from them in terms of timeliness, type of documentation and any other logistics involved, it makes it easier for everyone. For example, annotate meeting notes with things like who was invited and a summary of the conversation on speaker phone or road-map for follow up action items.
When it comes to communication, you need to be direct, positive and transparent. Don't beat around the bush when giving feedback or addressing a specific issue. When it's time for your team members to communicate with other departments, make sure they do so in a positive and respectful manner. If you have an expectation for how you would like them to handle the situation, share it with them up front. Make yourself open and available for follow-up questions or concerns if necessary.
Empowering your team doesn't mean doing their job for them; it should be about sharing your experiences in order to help employees learn how to do their jobs better on their own. If you have an upcoming project, for example, you can use your past experiences to help guide them through the best steps to take in their current situation.
Ask questions that help your team think outside of the box and brainstorm creative solutions. By sharing what has worked well in certain situations that they are facing, they can see how it fits into the bigger picture. This will help them plan how they will handle similar situations in the future and truly show that they are empowered to take on more responsibilities on their own.
Project Management Tools For Small Businesses
I wanted to give a quick shout out to a project management tool called Kanbanize which I just discovered. This tool is perfect for small business owners and even freelancers who want to get more organized without paying a high price. Kanbanize is a great solution that helps you keep track of projects, tasks and clients. It has a lot of nice features including:
Kanban boards
Calendar management
Workflows and many more.
I would recommend checking out their free 14-day trial! Here is their link: http://www.kanbanize.com
I'm super excited to be using it in my business and I think you will love it too!
Have a fulfilling day!
Yours Truly,
Lachlan MacFadyen __________________________________________________________________________ Hey Lachie: Just wanted to drop you a quick line to say how much I enjoyed reading your blog posts. I found many of them really inspiring and informative. Perhaps one day when I get over the massive learning curve you have helped me get onto (in just a few succinct posts), I may be able to share some useful (hopefully) pieces with others. I have had a great start on the apps I've mentioned and I'm looking forward to sharing what I have written so far. A lot of my thoughts are centred around designing a business that allows me to spend time with my family while still giving me the opportunity to make some money (with the occasional side order of "fun"). Am finding this isn't so easy, but am enjoying the challenges of creating a business that can do both. One thing you touched on was "choice" for business owners and this is something I feel very strongly about too. Since I'm just starting my business, there is a constant reevaluation at every stage as to whether this is really what I want or not (every day). The battle with "gold diggers" is always a challenge and it's often very easy to get in the way of your own intentions. I'm hoping that one day I can take you on a tour of my office. It's not a large space, but is functional and has the right touches to support what I want to achieve in the business. The workstation where I spend most of my time (and will until my new one is setup), the furniture and storage, some really great software bits (Apps) and the inspirational art are all things that help me keep going when things are tough. The best thing about your site is it's not "out there", so inspiring other people to start their own business can help us all.
Conclusion
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Empowering Your Manager